From the Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel; Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: A zoning hearing board held a hearing and then announced that its decision will be mailed to interested parties who request to receive it. The zoning hearing board has said it will not announce its decision at a public meeting. Can they do that?

A: No, the zoning hearing board must render its decision at a public meeting. The Sunshine Act requires all official action to take place at a public meeting. The decision made by a zoning hearing board is official action as defined by law. There is a provision of the Sunshine Act that permits “quasi-judicial” bodies such as a zoning hearing board to deliberate privately but it does not allow official action to take place outside a public meeting. The zoning hearing board can send its decision to interested parties but only after it has voted to decide the issue at a public meeting.

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